At Québec City's Jean-Lesage International Airport
(left) , water bombers await spring and the return of forest
fire season. Amongst the CL-415 is an "old" CL-215.
Found it yet?

Two other CL-415 are seen above. Although the CL-215 (and
it's younger brother the CL-415) was the first plane designed
and planned from the beginning to fight forest fires, some countries
have ordered this amphibious plane in Search & Rescue (S&R)
configuration.

The front landing gear completely disappears in the hull
while the main gear retracts and the wheels come to rest on the
side of the hull.

The reservoirs can contain up to 5 400 liters of water precision dropped on target from doors opened in the bottom of the hull. Filling is made by skimming on the water surface. Other firefighting seaplanes must stop and pump water in. The "Canadair" is equipped with retractable inlets which scoop water in while the plane maintains adequate speed. This permits it to return to the fire scene quickly, thus augmenting the quantity of water delivered and explains its effectiveness.

Overfilling is prevented by an overflow opening which can
be seen (in the picture on the left) as a rectangular opening
on the side of the plane, just in front of the main gear

The CL-215 and CL-415 are robust planes. They were built with simplicity, dependability and ease of maintenance in mind. Built in Montreal, these planes now fly in Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Thailand, USA (North Carolina).

Some of the planes on this page are CL-215T, that is : retrofitted CL-215 modified to CL-415 standards with new turboprops and winglets. The Québec (2) government and Spain (17) transformed some of their CL-215 fleet as CL-215T.

Thanks to a visitor like you, I got the following information :

The governmental air service has
only two 215T in its water tanker fleet. They are C-FASE
and C-FAWQ.
There are noticeble differences between the 415 and the 215T.

the 215T has two large water bombing
doors instead of the 415s four small doors. (it kept those of
a 215)

there is no footstep on top of the
engine nacelle to step over it (although the modification is
possible)

The avionics inside the CL-215T
are "analogic" and simple. This plane is extremely
trustworthy.

The 415 is more of a "glass
cockpit" plane and equipped with a more complicated water
door system...

The 215 is a beautiful plane but
the radial engines submit the plane to vibrations. Those engines
require much more maintenance... and lots of oil!!! (oil is added
with 5 gal pails !).

All water bombers of this service numbered under 238 are 215s, 238 are 239 are 215Ts are all others from 240 and up are 415s. (The most recent being 247 C-GQBK was reportedly equipped for some time with an infrared nose camera under development to find hot spots).

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